Report:

The Forrester Wave™: Conversation Intelligence For B2B Revenue, Q4 2023

Top Vendor Products for Conversation Intelligence For B2B Revenue in 2023

• Gong

Conversation Intelligence For B2B Revenue Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

• Gong - Leaders
  

  Pros:

  • Most feature-rich CI solution available in the market
  • Extensive investment in capturing and analyzing interactions has allowed it to productize insights
  • Has supervised and unsupervised AI models that analyze calls and surfaces trends
  • Users can train triggers beyond keywords and phrases, leading to more accurate results
  • Allows users to tie scorecards to triggers, enabling the tracking of key moments (e.g., objection handling)
  • Released genAI product 'Call Spotlight' in June 2023
  • Reference customers value deal health analysis and automation capabilities that reduced seller administrative time

  Cons:

  • Gap in real-time triggers
  • Lack of out-of-the-box sentiment tracking
  • Pricing flexibility is a weakness - charges a separate platform fee unlike other vendors


• Allego - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Packed with valuable coaching and collaboration features
  • Showreels allow customers to evaluate key insights by identifying and grouping snippets from multiple calls
  • Dialogue simulator makes it easy to build and implement training scenarios with AI-generated virtual actor
  • In 2023, leveraged genAI to add paraphrasing and listening in real time, making it the most advanced simulator to date
  • Reference customers rave about the value provided by customer service

  Cons:

  • Focus on enablement has left a gap in deal execution features
  • Lacks opportunity aggregation, deal management, workflow, and real-time capabilities
  • Lacks interaction aggregation and seller automation capabilities
  • Has not been successful at ensuring CI customers are using its innovative features
  • Reference customers confirmed the lack of deal execution features


• Clari - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Has embraced genAI and added valuable features into its solution
  • Release of 'RevAI' started with smart summaries and actions from conversations
  • Advanced to generating emails and postcall follow-ups
  • Used technology to improve real-time CI capabilities by enabling creation of smart real-time trackers from long-form content
  • Reference customers emphasized the value for money provided with their CI solution

  Cons:

  • CI solution requires additional Clari products to take advantage of capabilities such as opportunity attribution and deal health analysis
  • User experience is not fully integrated
  • Needs separate Clari and Copilot mobile application to use all features
  • Reference customers are looking forward to a more unified platform


• Microsoft - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Improves call prep by allowing companies to benchmark sellers against top performers
  • Ability to break up calls into segments to allow for evaluation of key phases, such as opening and closing of a call
  • Approach to sentiment analysis provides sentiment progression throughout the call and a score at the end
  • Started building genAI into solutions a year before the wider market focused on it

  Cons:

  • Gaps in the solution, such as lack of scorecard capabilities and mobile application
  • More lucrative categories are taking its attention, which means the roadmap for CI will not take advantage of its vast resources
  • Smaller, more focused vendors are moving ahead
  • Declined to participate in the full Forrester Wave evaluation process


• Outreach - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Strong opportunity attribution capabilities allowing users to see all the interactions in their deals
  • Out-of-the-box reporting capabilities are strong with explainable deal scoring
  • Includes integration with Snowflake to export data for additional analysis
  • Easy for users to enhance deal execution by leveraging conversations within cadences
  • Reference customers confirmed the value of the sales execution capabilities

  Cons:

  • Trigger analysis lacks the ability to filter on CRM fields
  • Missing scorecards and a mobile app
  • GenAI capabilities are not publicly available (but expected to be released)
  • Pricing is a downside - customers only looking for a CI solution will incur charges such as paying for listen-only licenses
  • Pricing tiers reserve key features for full solution professional and enterprise packages
  • Reference customers lamented the lack of key features, such as scorecards and a mobile app


• Revenue.io - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Standout real-time capabilities such as hyperpersonalized triggers that can be built using keywords and structured data
  • System can detect what has not been said and remind the seller to cover these missed topics
  • Privacy and compliance stand out with advanced features such as the ability to capture and log insights without recording the call
  • Redaction capabilities and recording one side of the call on phone conversations where consent isn't given
  • Reference customers loved the real-time capabilities

  Cons:

  • Lacks an overall cohesive experience and leveraging all features requires access to multiple applications
  • Requires additional clicks, a key weakness compared to other solutions
  • Lacks a mobile app and has fewer integrations than vendors evaluated
  • Reference customers were not aware of some key features


• Zoom - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Offers a host of features including ability to set up risk signals using keywords and CRM fields that flag opportunities in jeopardy
  • Has basic scorecard capabilities that can be assigned to each call
  • Triggers built on keywords and sentiment
  • Triggers are filterable based on Boolean logic, enabling more targeted reports
  • Has the innovation pedigree and funding to become a top-tier solution

  Cons:

  • Does not have standard features such as a mobile app or a robust set of integrations
  • Will need to expand its interaction-capture capabilities outside of its own communication products to meet the needs of a larger base of customers
  • Declined to participate in the full Forrester Wave evaluation process


• ZoomInfo - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Strong foundation in key areas
  • Transcription model is one of the most advanced and contains all the core features
  • Provides a set of advanced preconfigured triggers to improve insight accuracy
  • Has advanced reporting with proactive keyword analysis
  • Advanced automation capabilities that allow companies to configure triggers to autoupdate fields in a CRM platform
  • Sentiment analysis goes beyond the transcript and incorporates tonality
  • Alignment with ZoomInfo enables companies to enrich account and contact data
  • Reference customers pointed out the quality of the transcription

  Cons:

  • Since the acquisition, the roadmap has been sparse except for data integrations
  • Has led to a lack of focus on innovation
  • Has fallen behind others evaluated and will need a big effort to catch up
  • Lacks deal scoring and sales execution workflows
  • Reference customers wanted to see improvements in interaction attribution and customer support


• Mindtickle - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Advanced scorecard capabilities that allow for a range of question types along with the ability to weight the value of different questions
  • Scorecards can be aligned with the company's readiness index, enabling companies to use scorecards as part of seller evaluation process
  • Strong call prep features, including automated scoring based on company themes that determine what went well and what must be improved
  • Built a strong integration with BoostUp to support sales execution capabilities

  Cons:

  • Does not have sentiment capabilities
  • Lacks the transcription accuracy and interaction attribution capabilities of peers
  • Dependence on a partner for some CI features puts Mindtickle at a disadvantage compared to peers
  • Reference customers wanted better transcription accuracy and were not aware of key features such as triggers, deal health analysis, and the mobile app


• Salesloft - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Strengths lie in the power of its 'Conductor AI' model, which identifies and prioritizes the work a seller must execute
  • Opportunity attribution and deal management workflows drive this new solution and are standout features
  • Benefits from a strong partner ecosystem
  • Focus on Rhythm, its unified place of work for sellers released earlier this year

  Cons:

  • Has basic keyword triggers with limited reporting
  • Does not offer a scorecard to evaluate call performance
  • Focus on unification has meant that CI aspects of its platform have been focused on integrating core CI capabilities across a seller's workflow over advanced features
  • Roadmap and vision that is less ambitious than others in this evaluation
  • Reference customers are eager for more advanced features


• Bigtincan - Challengers
  

  Pros:

  • Call prep and sentiment analysis stand out among evaluated vendors
  • Acts as a voice coach that can detect and improve emotional impact
  • Helps sellers set the right tone in their conversations with customers

  Cons:

  • Has a narrow vision and roadmap with very few features compared to peers
  • Solution is lacking in most areas, including interaction capture, call analysis, automation, and deal health analysis
  • A more expansive focus will be required to move Bigtincan from a niche product to a CI solution
  • Declined to participate in the full Forrester Wave evaluation process


• Salesforce - Challengers
  

  Pros:

  • Most valuable feature is linked to its native integration with its CRM
  • Takes advantage of a wide range of established Salesforce integrations
  • Because the solution is part of the CRM, sellers can work inside the systems views for deal management and conversation sharing
  • Has adjusted its pricing to include conversation intelligence as a part of its premium offering at no additional charge

  Cons:

  • Coaching capabilities are lacking with no ability to create scorecards outside of adding fields to the call object
  • Lacks the reporting and analysis capabilities of others in this evaluation
  • Vision and roadmap do not have the innovation of others in this evaluation
  • Typically prefers to serve as the system of record and allow other companies to innovate before entering with a product
  • Declined to participate in the full Forrester Wave evaluation process

Reference

• Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Conversation Intelligence For B2B Revenue, Q4 2023, 24-Oct-2023, ID RES178528

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